25 signatures reached
To: Channel 4
Balance "poverty porn" with "one law for the rich" porn
Rather than stop producing Benefits Street, which would be censorship, start producing a programme that compares, say, the recent imprisonment of a woman for £40,000 benefits fraud with the case of the MP who defrauded exactly the same amount and is now being groomed to get back onto the front bench.
Why is this important?
Farming subsidies paid to millionaires, VAT breaks for companies bidding for lucrative NHS contracts, the recent tax rules changes that mean companies don't have to pay the balance of their corporation tax to the UK tax authorities, are benefits too. They amount to tens of millions, if not billions, of pounds. They still come out of general taxation, and are paid for by the less well off who proportionally pay far more tax. So there needs to be far more balance.
All of this is not good for public debate as it is never put into a forum where voters can see it. There are approximately 10 times more people employed chasing benefits fraud that there are chasing tax evasion, yet the amounts of money concerned are 10 times the other way.
If we are concerned about "freeloaders" and "scroungers" who operate with a sense of entitlement ignoring the morals of what they do then ALL of them need to be taken to task, instead of a small cross section of vulnerable people who are being exploited by "poverty porn".
